Taking a Look at the Cable Bill

Our Comcast cable bill came today. For a change I sat down and read it, instead of just paying it. It turns out that along with their 6Mbps internet access and "Digital Starter" cable tv service, we are paying $10.95/mo for their "Digital Classic" package.

I noticed that in with the bill there was a nice little chart showing the channels that fall into each package. On this I saw that the Digital Classic package consists of about fifty channels in the 200's. As I looked down the list, I realized that we never really watch any of these channels. From time to time I look at them when there is nothing on, but no where near enough to justify $10.95/month, so I decided to call Comcast.

During the call the Comcast rep came close to talking me into changing to their "Triple Play" package (Internet/Cable TV/Phone), but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It would have involved locking in to their service for either 12 or 24 months and paying a $99 installation fee.

This "installation" would involve having a rep come out to our house upgrade us to a combo internet & phone modem. I am familiar with how this is setup. A couple of weeks ago I help a friend move his Comcast combo modem down to his basement (so he did not have to look at it anymore), but Comcast was not willing to allow me to "install" it myself.

End result here was that I decided to stick with what we have, just without the Digital Classic package. And I did have the added joy of being charged $1.99 for the right to remove the package from our service.

I have to say I am still holding out hope for FiOS, but it looks like it will take a while to arrive. I recently ran into an article that tels me that the town of Hanson, MA is not on the FiOS expansion list for 2008.

Maybe Verizon will change their mind.

FiOS

The other day my mother mentioned that she doesn't really use her computer at home because it takes too long to connect to the internet. You see, she is still using AOL dial-up.

I suggested that she (well, I) take a look at upgrading her connection to DSL, as it is about half the price of a cable connection and probably fast enough for her needs. In fact, when compared to the dial-up, it will seem speedy.

I took a look at the Verizon site to see what they have available for her and found that she actually lives in a place where FiOS is available. It struck me as ironic that FiOS should be available to my mother, who just doesn't need it, and not to me.

Ever since I first heard about FiOS, I have been chafing at the bit for access to it. And unless I move, this will not be happening soon. When I double-checked the FiOS availability for my address, the Verizon site didn't even recognize the name of my town so that I could join their "waiting list."

Along with the FiOS, Verizon does offer DSL service in my mother's area, so at least we can migrate her over to a wireless always-on connection that I will have the joy of supporting for years to come.